Jesse Ezell Blog

Palm Gives In

Looks like Palm is going to be shipping Windows.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9456357/

Ebay Buys Skype

The rumors are true. eBay will buy Skype for $2.6 billion. Anyone else feel like we are back in the .com days? How does a company with relatively few assets and only $10 million in revenue get a 2.6 billion dollar acquisition? Sign me up for the next one.

I can definately see how eBay / PayPal can benefit from a platform like Skype, but I have yet to see how paying 2.6 billion to use the technology fits into the picture. I wonder how many angry eBay investors were made today?

More info here: http://investor.ebay.com/event.cfm

Always Use Protection

A friend pointed me to this article in the LA Times about an interesting technology being introduced in Africa:

"A medieval device built on hatred of men? Or a cheap, easy-to-use invention that could free millions of South African women from fear of rape, in a country with the world's worst sexual assault record?

Dubbed the "rape trap", trademarked "Rapex", the condom-like device bristling with internal hooks designed to snare rapists has re-ignited controversy over South Africa's alarming rape rate, even before plans for its production were announced in Western Cape this week..."

[1] http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/controversy-in-south-africa-over-device-to-snare-rapists/2005/09/01/1125302683893.html

MS vs. Google Talk

"Microsoft moved to build its presence in the booming Internet telephony market on Wednesday, purchasing Teleo Inc., a Californian company that lets users make calls from their computers to regular phones." [1]

Timing so close to the launch of Google talk just has to make you wonder how much that played a roll in the decision.

[1] http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/internet/08/30/microsoft.reut/index.html